Russell Brand fumbles to find Bible verse

British comedian and actor Russell Brand was sentenced in the United Kingdom on Monday to 10 years and six months in prison. According to Malay Mail, Judge Joel Bennathan described the 51-year-old as a "sexual predator" who acted with "staggering arrogance" and used his fame to protect himself. CBS News reported the sentence was for the rape of one woman in 2009 and the sexual assault of three others, while ABC News AU stated he was convicted of the rape and sexual assault of four women between 2004 and 2009, though he was acquitted of two other counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.

ABC News AU reports that Jemima Goldsmith, who dated Brand between 2013 and 2014, released a statement following the sentencing accusing him of violence, coercive control, and abuse. She stated she had to call the police to remove him from her home during a violent incident in 2014 but chose not to press charges at that time.

The Sydney Morning Herald noted that Brand's spiritual awakening occurred around the same time police began investigating allegations against him in 2023. The Age reported that Brand spent years attempting to preemptively save himself from a legal reckoning by self-imposing a moral one.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Sydney Morning Herald, ABC News AU, CBS News, The Age, Malay Mail — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.